Caramella's Story
by candysparkles627
Summary: Caramella is a cart-racer without a game to call home. But when she's invited into Sugar Rush, will she finally have a home, considering she also finds out about a scary family secret that could change her life forever?
1. Chapter 1

Whispering lyrics to myself while playing my guitar, I leaned back against the hard wall of Game Central Station. I remember this really pretty song I had heard somewhere, and I tried to play it. The station was almost empty, as most people were doing their jobs in there games, except the few people, like me, whose games were unplugged or temporarily out of order. I though back to the days when I had a game. It was a kart racing game where every person and racetrack was completely different. I was candy themed, along with my own personal racetrack. My game was unplugged when a new racing game came in, called Sugar Rush, and no one ever played my game again because it was "unpopular". All the other racers went to other games to live in, but I didn't really know a reliable game that I could live in. I spent most of my days now living here and spending most of my time drawing. I felt so lonely.

"Pull yourself together, Caramella McPeppermint!" I said aloud to myself.

I told myself I wouldn't think about the fact that I was alone and would probably stay that way forever. Christmas was in three days, and I would spend it alone again. Then I heard a bell, which signaled the arcade's closing, and the crowds of characters would be coming in soon. I went back to playing my guitar, but realizing it was almost impossible to get anything done with so many people, I put away my stuff and decided just to do some people watching. I also thought it was pretty funny to trip people walking by. I saw a guy coming so I stuck out my leg to trip him.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"Oh, no reason." I said, laughing.

As the night went on, people began to filter back to their own games, and I was alone once again. The bell rang again, telling the opening of the arcade. I gazed down at the golden locket around my neck. It had always been jammed shut, but I figured it probably held some secret. About halfway through the day, a sugar rush racer walked up to me.

"Sup?" She said.

"Shouldn't you be in your game?" I glanced up.

"I should, but only 9 racers get to race each day, and today was my day off."

"Wouldn't the other racers get mad if you're not in your game, even if you're not a main part of the game?"

"Well, yeah. But as long as I'm back before the arcade closes and people notice me, I'm fine."

"Good point. Anyway, what's your name?"

"I'm Jubileena."

"I'm Caramella."

"Hey, weren't you from that other racing game that was unplugged?"

"Yeah."

"And you're candy-themed and don't have a home?"

"Yep."

"Then you'll fit in perfectly in Sugar Rush! Well, not the fact you're homeless, but the fact that you're candy-themed!"

"I'm good here."

"Come on? Please?"

Just then the bell signaling the arcade closing rang.

"Oh no! I'm gonna be in so much trouble if I wasn't back by now!"

"Told you."

"Could please come with me? At least bail me out of trouble?"

"Uh, fine! But I'm not staying long."

"Thank you! Come on!"

She grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to the game's outlet.

"What if no one likes me?"

"They will, don't worry!"

We ran through the entrance, to see what was pretty much my candy dream world.

"This is so cool!" I gasped.

"Yeah, I know. Now hurry up, before anyone realizes I was gone all day!"

"Okay, I'm coming!"

"Okay, I think I'm safe. Now let's go introduce you to everyone!"

"Whoa, whoa. I didn't say I was staying that long!"

"Well, now you here. So come on!"

"Ugh, fine."

I ram after her, towards the racetrack. Everything was so, well, candyish here! I was in paradise, but didn't want to admit it, as I would probably be rejected from this game, like almost every other game in this arcade.

"Caramella, meet Taffyta."

"Hi."

"Hey."

We looked awkwardly at each other.

"So," I tried to start a conversation. "You race, I assume."

"Yeah. Do you?"

"I used to, before my game was unplugged."

"Do you wanna race?"

"Um, I guess, but I don't have a cart."

"We have plenty. Let's race!"

"Jubileena, you wanna race too?"

"Sure!"

We ran over to the starting line.

"Ready, set, GO!" I yelled.

I was surprised that I actually remembered how to drive and got first place!

"Wow, you're pretty good!" Taffyta said, obviously pretty surprised at how good I was.

"Thanks. Well, I'd better go."

"Wait, how would you like to live here? You're an awesome racer!"

"Well, if you really want me then…YES!" I said, so happy that someone actually liked me.

"yay! Now, you need to meet our president, Vanellope."

"President?"

Taffyta grabbed me by the hand and we ran towards the castle, which I hadn't realized was there, even though it was kind of obvious. When we got to the gate, Taffyta rang the doorbell.

"Who iiiissss it?" The speaker attached to the gate said.

"It's me. And I have someone for you to meet."

"Ok. Come on in."

The gate opened, and we walked in.

"This is so cool! And I thought outside was cool!"

"Yeah…so, do you like it here?"

"Totally!" I almost yelled.

"Shush! Do you want to be caught by the police donuts?"

"Donuts?"

"Yeah, so weird, right?"

"Completely."

The first thing i noticed was that the candy castle was huge!

"Oh my gosh," Taffyta suddenly said. "I completely forgot! Wait here, I'll be back in like, 10 minutes!"

"Wait, what-" I started to say, but she had already run off.

I'm kind-of impatient, so after about 2 minutes, I began to wander around the castle. Everything was so fancy! I figured after a few minutes that I should head back, but I think I was lost. I came across a door, but it was locked. I wondered what was inside. I kicked the door as hard as I could, and it actually opened! I looked inside, to see one of the most amazing sights I had ever seen: the game's code. I glanced over at the door. _They really need a better lock._ I thought. Suddenly I heard voices coming down the hallway. At that moment, I really wish I could be invisible. I could get in so much trouble for even looking at the game's coding! I closed my eyes, wishing so badly to be invisible.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" A voice behind me said.

I opened my eyes and turned around to see a girl who didn't look much older than me, accompanied by two police donuts. _Ohhh…so that's a police donut… _I thought to myself.

"Umm…w-who are you?" I said nervously.

"Vanellope Von Schweetz. And you?"

"Caramella McPeppermint."

"What are you doing here?"

"Just looking."

"For what? A way to break into this game?"

"No."

"Then why?"

"Jubileena invited me into this game, Taffyta was gonna introduce me to you, then she said she had to do something, but wouldn't tell me what, so I started wandering around, and then I ended up here." I said extremely fast.

"I couldn't understand any of that, but I'm assuming it's a perfectly logical reason."

"So can I go?"

"Sure. Wait, one more thing. Where exactly did you come from?"

"My game was unplugged, and I've lived in game central station for the past 2 years."

"Oh. Okay, you can go now. Wait, one more thing. Are you a racer?"

"Kinda. Of course I was the best racer in my game, but that's done now."

"Wanna go down to the racetrack to see exactly how good you are? If you're good enough, maybe you can live here and be a racer."

"Sure." I said, and we walked out of the castle and towards the track.

We raced, and I won.

"Hmm…" Vanellope said. "I guess you're not as bad as I thought."

"Hey!"

"So do you want to stay here?"

"Yeah, I guess. As long as you don't mind."


	2. Chapter 2

"Wait, one last thing. To become part of the coding you have to race everyone here and win." Vanellope called after me.

"No problem. Can we race now?"

"Yeah, well, as soon as I call everyone together."

After about 10 minutes, which was surprisingly fast, everyone was ready to race. The only thing was that every other racer was really good.

I turned sharply around a corner, but I still wasn't in first. The only way to win was to put my cart in its fastest speed, but no one even knew how to drive that fast. I would have to. If I didn't win, I couldn't become part of the game's coding. I pushed on the gas pedal as hard as I could. I tried to keep my cart under control the best I could, and zoomed past the other racers. I crossed the finish line in first place. All of the sudden, the sky turned dark grey, as if a bad storm was coming. Lightning flashed, and most of the racers ran to the castle for protection. Everyone else tried to hide behind anything they could find. Except me. I didn't want to hide. I wasn't scared, and this storm almost felt normal.

"Look out!" Someone yelled.

I turned around to see a tornado coming straight for me. Then I heard a voice.

"Caramella," The voice called. "I've been looking for you."

The voice sounded really familiar, but I don't know where I had heard it before. A strong wind blew me backwards.

"Caramella, look at your necklace." The voice called out. "Then you'll know who I am."

"But it won't open!" I said.

"It will when you need it. And that's now."

I grabbed the locket and opened it. I read it aloud.

"Caramella Ginger McPeppermint. Daughter of…Turbo?" I said, slightly horrified.

"Yes." The voice said.

Suddenly I knew where I knew the voice from.

"Daddy?" I whispered.

"Yes, my little candy princess. Now, follow in my footsteps. Now's your chance to mess with the coding. Plug us both into the game, and we'll rule together."

"But I thought you were dead."

"I am. But I'm still in the coding, just not plugged into anything. Now's your only chance, while every one's scared."

Just then I heard a crash, and turned around, to see that part of the castle had collapsed. Screams could be heard.

"No! Why would you do that?"

"Go mess with the coding. NOW!"

"No. I can't do that to my friends."

"They're not your friends. They're just using you."

"Using me for what? I'm sorry, dad, but this is the only place I belong. I have nowhere else to go. They can kick me out and I'll be alone in game central station again. Don't you care about me?"

"I do. If you change the coding, then we will rule Sugar Rush together forever!"

"But didn't you get destroyed the last time you did that?"

"Yes, but together that won't happen."

"Don't listen to him! He's just using you!" Someone yelled from inside the castle.

Then another part of the castle collapsed.

"Stop that! Listen, you're my dad, and I love you, but I can't do this." I said, even though I was so scared I was crying.

Then I knew what to do. I ripped off my necklace and threw it to the ground as hard as I could. The locket shattered, and the tornado and cloud disappeared, and there was a bright light. I looked around to see almost everything was destroyed.

Everyone slowly came out of their hiding places.

"What just happened?" Vanellope asked.

"I'm not exactly sure." I said, still looking at the damage.

"This may take a while to clean up. I'm really glad the arcade's closed for Christmas. Oh, by the way, Merry Christmas!" Candlehead said.

"Wait, it's Christmas?" I said.

I looked down and broken bits of my necklace. I picked up one shard.

"Born on December 25," I whispered, reading the words on the small piece of metal. "Christmas."

"Maybe that's why all this happened. We heard every word of that very weird conversation. It's your birthday, and apparently that was your father's way of giving a present." Crumbelina said, putting her hand on my shoulder in sympathy.

I wasn't exactly sure what to say after that. "His present was trying to destroy the game?"

"Maybe. Some people have an odd way of showing it."

I glanced around at everything. "Well, I'm going back to game central station, as I'm probably not welcome here anymore."

I started to walk away. I knew this was all my fault.

"Caramella, wait," Vanellope called after me. "You can stay here. It wasn't completely your fault."

"Then who else's was it?"

"Well, mostly you. But you're an awesome racer! Please stay."

I smiled, and walked back. "Well, we have two days until the arcade opens. Let's get fixing!"

This didn't exactly go the way we planned. Fixing candy trees is harder than it looks. They don't grow back very fast. We ran out of glue so we had to start using frosting, which takes a very long time to dry.

"There's no way we'll finish!" Minty said, with her hair streaked with pink frosting.

"Do you want your game unplugged? Then get working!"


End file.
